Repeat offender gets 56 months in prison for child pornography

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
·2 min read
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A St. Paul man has been sentenced to an additional 56 months in prison for his second conviction on child pornography charges.

Ronald Leonard Koepke, 55, first was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 43 months in prison for child pornography possession.

In February 2021, while staying at the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul, he stopped making contact with police and was placed on probation with a stayed prison sentence for failing to register as a predatory offender.

Then, in January, he was sent back to prison for 18 months for violating the terms of his probation by possessing child pornography. He also had new criminal charges filed against him, which led to his latest prison sentence of 56 months last week.

The latest charges stem from an investigation that began in April 2020 when West St. Paul police received multiple reports from the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center concerning the well-being of a vulnerable adult. Koepke reportedly had been living with the person on and off and had been using meth and viewing child porn on his tablet.

Police obtained Koepke’s tablet and found “a substantial amount” of suspected child abuse material. The images were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, whose team late last year identified 327 images and two videos of child pornography.

Koepke pleaded guilty in July to three felony counts of child pornography possession. Ramsey County District Judge Paul Yang last week sentenced him to four years and eight months in prison, to be followed by 15 years of conditional release.

Koepke also must register as a predatory offender until 2036. Minnesota’s corrections system has classified him as a Level 3 predatory offender, indicating he presents a high risk of reoffending.

Koepke also has prior convictions for drunken driving, burglary, domestic assault, making terroristic threats, theft, check forgery, disorderly conduct and trespassing.

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